And They’re Out”: Politics and Baseball Cards

“The Midterm Elections on Tuesday brought a sudden end to the political careers U.S.) of many senators and representatives….

Below are trading cards to commemorate just six of these soon-to-be-cut power players. Hold on to them: some of these pols just might take the field again.”

On this Op-Art page are pictures of six US senators and representatives on simulated baseball cards with their political votes and statistics as if they were on a baseball team, for example: Blanche Lincoln, Senator from Arkansas, has a baseball in the corner of the card with ARK printed on it, and BATS: Left THROWS: RIGHT ELECTED: 1998 and other information including “Career Highlights”.

This whole NY Times page uses baseball metaphors. The people pictured on the cards were in and now they have been thrown out, not by umpire calls, but by the electorate, by the people.

If you are not from the US, you might not know that collecting baseball cards is a passion among young men and perhaps some females. Some rare cards become very valuable. One just sold for over $200,000.